Thank you! Merry Christmas and a TBR challenge list!

First off thank you to Kimberly at Turning The Pages for such an encouraging comment!! I am definitely going to try to keep this up! The reading part is the fun/easy part for me, it's the writing part that is sorta hard. The reviews and such! But I will keep trying to write as much as I can! Maybe If I hand write out my reviews first. For some reason my brain works better with pencil in hand then when I try to type out how I feel about a book. And part of it is pure laziness, or being too busy with other things! The other thing I think that deters me is the fact that I don't read new releases often, since my TBR shelf overfloweth, with books that I purchased a long time ago, so I think "Why review that?! Everyone has probably already read it!" But then I think Well the reason I started this blog was to keep track mainly for myself what I read, so why should I care what other people think? And who knows? Something I write just might help someone else want to read a great book I read, even if it's been on the shelves for years and years.

That being said I have once again joined the TBR challenge at The book addicts group on Goodreads, and the challenge is to read 12 books off your TBR shelf during the year. The books must have been on your shelf for at least a year. So, that means no publication dates from after Jan 1 2011. Lord knows I have plenty to choose from! So, here's my list!

1. Three Fates By: Nora Roberts

2.Of Mice and Men by: John Steinbeck

3. Girls Night In By: several authors (short stories!)

4. The Romance Readers' Book Club by: Julie L. Cannon

5. Nostalgic Noel A collection of 4 Christmas stories by various authors

6.The Appeal By: John Grisham

7. Ask Again Later by: Jill A. Davis

8. The Curious Incident of the Dog in The Nighttime By:Mark Haddon

9. Sammy's Hill by Kristin Gore

10. Mansfield Park by: Jane Austen

11. Waiting to Exhale by: Terry MacMillan

12. Every Breath You Take by Ann Rule

You are allowed 2 alternates as well and for those I picked:

1.Summer breeze By: Catherine Anderson

2. The Summerhouse By: Jean Stone

I just realized that out of those 14 books 10 of them are from authors who are new to me! Wow! I may find me some new favorite authors this year!

Well, that's it for me here, but before I go I would like to say a big Merry Christmas to all you who took the time to read this! I hope you all have a wonderful holiday and have a great New Year Holiday and next year? If you don't see reviews here, be sure and leave me a comment and say "Hey! I'd love to see a review for ::insert title here!::"

Wow!

I am up to 19 followers here now! I didn't think anyone even cared...guess I had better start writing more here. Like reviews of books...yeah that might be good! =) I have written what? 2, 3 reviews all year, and I've read almost 80 books! I am a horrible book blogger! =( I am gonna try to be better next year, I promise! (I think I made this promise for this year too...oops!)

Books Read in November

Well, I had a goooood reading month in November! I finished 15 books! So, now I am more than caught up with my challenge, in fact it is only the beginning of Dec, and I only have 1 more book to finish to reach my 75 books for the year!
Here's the list:
1. Heart of the Matter by:Emily Giffin
2. Diary of a Wimpy kid #1 by:Jeff Kinney
3. Diary of a wimpy Kid #2
4. Diary of a wimpy Kid #3
5. Diary of a wimpy Kid #4
6. Diary of a wimpy Kid #5
7. Deep and dark and Dangerous By:Mary Downing Hahn
8. Wait Tl Helen Comes By Mary Downing Hahn
9. 50 things that really matterDave Joachim
10. Cam Jansen and the Snowy day Mystery By: David A. Adler
11. Cam Jansen and the Triceratops Pops mystery by: David A. Adler
12. If I coud Fly By: Judith Ortiz Cofer
13. Good Bye Pink Pig By: C.S Adler
14. The sighn of the Crooked Arrow By: Franklin Dixon
15. Not even for Love By:Sandra Brown

Yes, i went a little overboard on the kiddie books but I got the box set of the Wimpy kid books for my birthday. And they went so fast and were fun that I decided to hit the library and see what other great kid books were out there! I forgot how Kiddie books can truly take you from your now world, and transport you to a time when you were young! I loved to read as a child, and these books took me back to long warm summer days laying on my bed reading as a child. I loved them all. I still have a few more from the library to read in December and I am looking forward to them as well.

October Monthly reads

In October I read 5 books:

1) The Woman in Black by: Susan Hill
2) The Ghost Next Door by: Mark Alan Morris
3) The Shelters of Stone by: Jean M. Auel
4) Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married by: Marian Keyes
5) One Summer by: David Baldacci

all but one were great reads. I really sturggled through The Shelters of Stone. I finished The woman in Black in one day and The Ghost Next Door in a few hours. I wanted to save The Ghosty one for Halloween, but it arrived early and I couldn't help myself and so I sat down and read the entire thing in a few hours.

Book Review: "One Summer" by: David Baldacci

Title: One Summer
Author: David Baldacci
Pages: 320
Personal Rating: 5/5

From the inside Cover: It’s almost Christmas, but there is no joy in the house of terminally ill Jack and his family. With only a short time left to live, he spends his last days preparing to say goodbye to his devoted wife, Lizzie, and their three children. Then unthinkably, tragedy strikes again: Lizzie is killed in a car accident. With no on able to care for them,the children are separated from one another and sent to live with family members around the country.
Just when all seems lost, Jack begins to recover in a miraculous turn of events. He rises from what should have been his deathbed, determined to bring his fractured family back together. Struggling to rebuild their lives after Lizzie’s death, he reunites everyone at Lizzies’s childhood home on the oceanfront in South Carolina. And there, over one unforgettable summer, Jack begins to learn to love again, and he and his children learn how to become a family once more.

Personal thoughts and reflection: I LOVED this book. I couldn’t put it down, and spent the last night up until 2 am finishing, as I couldn’t just leave the last quarter of the book unread! I had to know how everything resolved itself!!
I liked the character of Jack immediately. I was sucked in emotionally with this one! I have said it before and I’ll say it again. I believe the greatness of a book is shown when it can bring it’s reader to emotion, whether it be sadness, triumph, jealousy, anger, or any other emotion while reading, it has done it’s job! This book evoked so many emotions in me. Sadness, hope, anger, fear, it was all there!

The one thing that struck me about this book was it’s style. Now I have only read ONE of Baldacci’s books so far (The Christmas Train), though I was hooked from that one and went out and started stockpiling his works from then on, I am excited to get into some of his series!! (I’m a big series addict!) But this one reminded me of a Nicholas Sparks book. It read a lot like many of his. He spun a great tale, and I kept thinking “This was written by a guy?” Though some of the fight scenes were obviously written by one of the male gender! (come on, admit it, the thought of a fight scene makes you wanna read it, huh?)
If you are looking for a great, easy, fun, emotional adventure to sink your teeth into, grab this book!! If you enjoy Nicholas Sparks works, grab this book! Heck, Just Grab this book!!!! I promise you , it will grab you back!!

Book Review: "Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married" by: Marian Keyes

Title: Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married
Author: Marian Keyes
Pages: 624
Personal Rating: 5/5

From the Back Cover: What happens when a psychic tells Lucy that she’ll be getting married within the year? Her roommates panic! What is going to happen to their blissful existence of eating take-out,drinking too much wine,bring men home and never vacuuming?
Lucy reassures her friends that she’s far too busy arguing with her mother and taking care of her irresponsible father to get married. And then there’s the small matter of not even having a boyfriend.
But then Lucy meets gorgeous,unreliable gus. Could he be the future Mr. Lucy Sullivan? Or could it be handsome Chuck? Or Daniel, the worlds biggest flirt? Or even cute Jed, the new guy at work?
Maybe her friends have something to worry about after all….

Personal thoughts and reflection: From the first page, this book had me laughing! I was entranced from page 1! I enjoyed Lucy’s journey as she hopped from man to man, wondering if THIS one was “THE ONE”.

She is a classic codependent, clinging to any rubbish that comes her way, due to the life she grew up in with a drunk father. Taking care of, and pampering men has always been a way of life for her, starting with her dad. She finally wakes up and decides to stand tall and not allow anyone to walk all over her anymore. And when she does….she finds her one true love!
This was my first book by Marian Keyes, and I can assure you, it won’t be my last! I plan on running right to library this coming weekend and seeing if they have any of her other works….but then again, looking at my overflowing To-Be-Read shelf, maybe I will wait a while!

September Monthly run down, and an answer to a question in comments!

Wow! September really was a HORRIBLE reading month! I only got 3 books read...why? you ask? Because I decided to try to stick to reading a horrible book that is about a million pages long that is just a waste of time. Which one might that be? "The Shelters of Stone" by Jean M. Auel.

This book is the 5th book in her Earth Children's series. It took her 12 years to write, and most of her fans, who loved the first four books are mostly dissapointed in this work. The reviews at goodreads aren't good. I am struggling to get through this thing. The only reason I am STILL reading it, is that I have invested time in getting through over 500 of the 700+ pages and I see the end is near, but I find myself doing so much skimming...sad. I was totally looking forward to this work too! There is a 6th inthe series, and I hear it is worse than this one. I borrowed it from a friend, and I think I will be returning it without even cracking it open.

On the other hand I did finish three really great books:
1. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
2.Conquering Depression By: Mark A. Sutton and Bruce Hennigan
and
3. All Together Dead By: Charlaine Harris

I am STILL slogging through The Shelters of Stone. I still have a little over 200 pages left of this one. I confess, I keep turning the page hoping something happens! but nothing ever does! It's just more of the same old boring drivel. I am also curious to see how she ends this, despite the fact that I don't think anything exciting will happen. And there have been plenty of opportunity for drama, but she never grabs it! Just a few incidents here and there, and I think that is why I keep going, just about the time I wanna give up, there is a bit of excitement, but she never runs with that storyline, she just goes back to the boring descriptions of everything in minute detail, and repeating herself over and over and over.

Well, if I ever get this book done, I will be picking up The Girl who Kicked the Hornets Nest, World without End, and maybe Blood of the Fold, the third book in the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind....another three that are over 700 pages, and one is over 1000! Or! Maybe I'll go for some light reading, some Emily Giffin, or Karen Kingsbury. I know I want to read/reread some of my true ghost story books in lieu of the Halloween/fall spirit...no pun intended! I just ordered a new Ghosty Book on Amazon last week, and am hoping it shows up before October is gone!

Ok, and now to answer Booklady who asked how I liked War and Peace and if I had plans to read any more of Tolstoys stuff.
I enjoyed it alot! I have read Anna Karenina, and loved it also. I do have his other works on my "To read someday" list, but there are none on my TBR shelf as of yet. Maybe I will have to remedy that here soon!